Greek Cretan Biscuits (almond cookies)

4.69 from 19 votes

Greek Cretan Biscuits (almond cookies)

Recipe video above. A recipe for traditional Greek almond cookies, given to me by Irene, the proudly Greek mother of my Greek hairdresser! Tastes like almond shortbread cookies. Love the mound-like shape, feels substantial biting into it.

See FAQ about difference in measures between countries, no need to tweak this recipe, works as written.

Servings: cookies

Calories: 144cal

Author: Nagi

Ingredients

2/3 cup (100g) blanched almonds (Note 1)
2 1/2 cups plain flour (all-purpose flour)
4 tsp baking powder
One pinch cooking salt / kosher salt
250g/ 2 sticks unsalted butter , softened (Note 2)
3/4 cups white sugar (or caster sugar)
1 large egg , at room temperature (~50g / 2oz in shell)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Almond decoration:

1 egg white , lightly whisked (use leftover for breakfast scrambled eggs!)
1/4 cup almond flakes

Cups - Metric

Instructions

ABBREVIATED RECIPE:

Toast almonds 7 min at 180°C/350°F (160°C fan), cool bash or blitz. Cream butter and sugar, beat in egg and vanilla. Add dry ingredients in 3 lots, then beat in almond. Roll 30 x 2 tbsp balls (#40 scoop). Slightly flatten, brush with egg white, top with flakes. Bake 20 min until light golden.

FULL RECIPE:

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan-forced). Lightly grease (or spray with oil) 2 large trays and line with baking paper (parchment paper).

Almond bits:

Roasting (optional, Note 1) - Roast the almonds for 7 minutes on a small tray, shaking once halfway. Cool almonds on the tray.
Bash/blitz the almonds using a food food processor or ziplock bag with a rolling pin until they resemble coarse sand with some small lumps (little almonds bits in the cookies are nice). (Note 3)

Cookie dough:

Dry ingredients - Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Cream butter and sugar - In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugar using a handheld beater until it is soft and fluffy, scraping down the sides as needed, ~1 1/2 minutes on medium high. (Note 2 stand mixer) Add the egg and vanilla, then beat until mixed in. (Note 4)
Add the flour mixture in 3 lots, beating in between until the flour is mostly mixed in (some visible white flour is ok). Start the beater on low and increase to medium, about 7 sec each go.
Add the crushed almonds then beat on medium until you can no longer see flour.
Form cookies - Roll 30 x 2 tablespoon balls (#40 cookie scoop) then slightly flatten to about 2 cm / 0.8" thick. (Note 5 for my method). Place the cookies 4 cm / 1.6" apart on the trays. Brush the top with egg white them place a pinch of almond flakes on top (no need to press in, egg glues them on).
Bake both trays together for 20 minutes or until the cookies in the middle are light golden and the ones of the edge of the tray are slightly more golden.
Cool 5 minutes on the tray then transfer onto a rack to fully cool. Attack!

Notes

1. Blanched almonds are the skinless almonds sold in packets labelled "blanched almonds" (I know, shocking! ;) ) Almonds with skins on works but you'll get little brown bits in the cookies. Roasting intensifies the almond flavour but it's not recipe critical.

Using almond meal instead - It's finer and more absorbent so I'd use less, around 75g, say 1/2 cup. It won't be quite the same though as you won't get little almond bits in the cookies, but I'm sure it will still be tasty.

2. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment and scrape down sides as needed. For this recipe, I find a handheld beater easier because you can move it around so probably don't need to scrape down the sides.

3. Almond bashing - We're not aiming for fine almond meal / almond flour here, we want lots of tiny little bits!

4. If the mixture looks a little split when you add the egg that's ok, it will come together when you add the flour.

5. My cookie forming method: scoop and dollop all the dough onto trays, then roll and flatten. I find this the fastest way to make even sized cookies. (I also do this with meatballs!)

Store cookies in an airtight container for 5 days (once fully cool). Do not refrigerate.

Nutrition per cookie.

Nutrition